The City Council allocates 500,000 euros to organize concerts this summer

The music sector is one of the most affected by the pandemic. Massive concerts have seen how the coronavirus made their celebration impossible, preventing dancing among strangers and shouting while singing. After the message of hope that the Love of Lesbian concert represented for the return of these events, the Barcelona City Council wants to support the organizers of large-format concerts with a new line of subsidies, which should serve to reactivate the music scene for this summer and encourage hiring, remarks the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni.

With a budget of 500,000 euros, the council will reduce the fees that promoters have to pay to organize concerts between May 20 and September 30 in the Fòrum Park and the Olympic Ring, spaces managed by B:SM. Specifically, they will be reduced by 40%. This measure allows lightening the fixed costs that companies face in these large-format events, taking into account that their profits have been reduced with capacity limitations.

Last year, a total of 100 concerts were held in the city, and this is the figure the City Council is working on for 2021, details the Councilor for Creative Industries, Xavier Marcé. If in 2020, capacities varied between 800 and 1,000 people, this year it is expected to reach up to 3,000. However, everything will depend on the epidemiological situation, which is expected to improve as the population's vaccination progresses. It remains to be seen if protocols as strict as those of Love of Lesbian will be necessary, which still has to release the results of the pilot test it carried out, but which Collboni has already advanced seem to be very positive.

To access this line of subsidies, a form must be filled out on the City Council's electronic headquarters. The aid will be granted non-competitively and will be automatically assigned if the requirements are met.

The vice president of the Association of Music Promoters and president of The Project, Tito Ramoneda, values this new measure very positively. "The step we are taking is very important," he states. For him, it adds to the first key show of support that the council has given to the sector through the Bonus Cultura.